Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Coimbatore is a well known industrial city having good number of tourists visiting everyday. The guests of Coimbatore are willing to spend time in sight seeing in the near by hill stations. The western ranges provide a handful of hill resorts for the foreigners and Indians visiting from far off places.

You can stay at Coimbatore and make a single day visit to these places. Or else, you can go over there and stay for a couple of days to enjoy the nature in a complete manner.

Hill stations and resorts in the vicinity:

Fruit gardens:

On one side, just have a straight drive up to Mettupalayam the foot hill of Nilgiris and start moving up in the hills. You can have stopovers at the Government fruit stations at Kallar and Burliar on the way. Among others, you can see some of the rare fruit trees like durian, cocoa, twining vanilla and cardamom. A hanging rope bridge on the KallarRiver is an attraction to tourists. There after, you will start seeing only a green lustrous blanket of the nature as tea gardens on the way to the hill stations.

Coonoor Sim’s park-Nature’s gift:

Coonoor, the beautiful hill station of Nilgiris welcomes you with live colorful flowers with green canopy every where on the roads and streets up to the Sim’s Park. This is a picturesque garden developed as tourist attraction with natural undulations. This has a large number of bigger trees, flowering bushes and a small lake with lawns and sunken gardens. This charming garden has apple gardens close by as gift of nature.

Ooty-a diamond crown on the queen of hills:

Ooty or uthagamandalam is the hill town with all the tourist components for fuller enjoyment of nature with man made attractions. You have lovely traditional lodges like Woodlands and modern resorts like Sterling for staying with all comforts. The commercial street offers a good range of woolen clothing, Ooty chocolates, biscuits and baked foods, besides tea and eucalyptus.

Touch the clouds: You will be willing to go to the peak of Nilgiris, the Dhodda petta to see the down countries from the top of the hills. You have a choice of good steaming teas to drink there in the midst of mists and drizzles too.

Ride a Boat:OotyLake is famous for its beauty and boat riding facility. You can have a horse ride too on the borders of the lake and race course there.

Love flowers: You will not miss the bold and beautiful Botanical garden which comprises of beauty and natural science embedded. The large trees on the natural elevations, lawns and meadows, flowering shrubs and bushes, glass houses with full of flowering plants like lilies, coronations, dahlias will make a great show to the tourists from other states and countries.

Wild life: If you wish to see the beauty of the forest with its animal kingdom, you will move to Mudhumalai wildlife sanctuary on the other side of the hill. While going to the destination you will see a large area under tea with silver oak trees giving shades to the plantation crop. You have every chance to see groups of elephant, bison and deer in the forests besides wild animals and birds.

Water current: An open view of Pykara dam with its river running on the rocks is a breaking view among the tall eucalyptus trees and large meadows.

You have plenty of things to see, enjoy and shop for your family. You will love and keep all the places visited at Ooty ever green in your memory.

On the way to Kodaikanal, another beautiful hill station, you may visit the Palani hills to have a dharsan of Lord Muruga.

Kodaikanal has beautiful recreation and picnic spots like Kodai lake, Rose gardens, Pillar rocks, Silver cascade, 'coaker’s walk'-a lovers’ walking hillock- with grass lands. The town is a little smaller to Ooty, but has lovely ambiance to enjoy and spend the time in the scenic beauty.